What was the new Duke of Westminster like when he was at uni?

Hugh Grosvenor: the media has gone into a frenzy since the “UK’s most eligible bachelor” was appointed the Duke of Westminster a fortnight ago.

He became the Duke after the tragic passing of his father Gerald Grosvenor. Along with the title, he has also inherited a fortune of around £9billion including an estate which is made up of large parts of Belgravia and Mayfair.

He has largely stayed out of the limelight, aside from his appointment as godfather to Prince George, to which he said he was: “deeply honoured and delighted”.

But aside from numbers, stats and largely unfounded accusations of his wild and lavish party lifestyle, we wanted to find out what Hugh “the Newcastle student” was like.

Known as Hughie by his friends, he was an Agric who studyied countryside management. He recently had his pictures published in the Daily Mail on what appears to be one of the prolific Agric bar crawls, which occur every Wednesday. The picture of him in a pink onsie is thought to have been taken in Club Trop in 2011.

Another shows him with a blow-up doll – with someone commenting asking if he’s “fit to lead?”. Give the guy a break.

Hugh has just become the third wealthiest land owner in the UK. Someone who was at uni at the same time as him said he: “Wasn’t at all flashy, but would get his wallet out to buy rounds”.

His father is known to have brought up the Grosvenors – made up of Lady Tamara, 36, Lady Edwina, 34 and Lady Viola, 23 and Hugh – on strong morals. Speaking about his son in 1993, Gerald said: “He’s been born with the longest silver spoon anyone can have, but he can’t go through life sucking on it. He has to put back what he has been given.”

Regarding his social life, he had “a good, core group of friends but largely kept himself to himself.”

He was also “quite incredibly quiet”. The Daily Telegraph said he was a “quiet figure” who collects wine, and that “the young Duke has rarely bothered the gossip columns”.

There are also pictures of him with what looks suspiciously like a red WKD – the likes of which one can purchase in Flares. For those who have not had the flares experience, it is a small club consisting of a light-up dance floor, stripper poles, a stage and every Wednesday, a sea of Agrics.

His life has been kept private in many ways – much of this credited to his father’s protection of the family. He went to the local state primary, then to Ellesmere College.

After Newcastle he went to study a masters at the University of Oxford. He then went on to work at BioBean – an environmental coffee bean waste-disposal company.

He is thought to have hung out a bit in bar Blanc, Newcastle. Amica, who currently manages Blanc, can’t confirm it for sure as she started there after he left, but said: “He probably did go to Blanc though – where else would he go as a student?”

A friend told The Sun: “He’s a really down-to-earth bloke who never acted like a toff and is just a really good guy.”